ragnarok: Did any of the rest of you watch football after Cal bent over at USC? I didn't have the stomach for it, and instead watched the NLCS.
Norcalnick: I didn't watch any college football after Cal went down 28-0. I refuse to apologize for it!
Yellow Fever: I actually missed most of the first quarter of the Cal game because I was out helping a friend move (as opposed to helping a friend stay put, which would have been easier. I would have just made sure she did not start to load sh*t onto a truck.), and then got back to my place with the game in progress. I fired up ESPN and saw that we were already down 14 points and that Riley was 0/5 at that point. Then I went and took a shower, and by the time I got back we were down 28-0. At this point, I wasn't even upset. Being a Nets season ticket holder hardens you to all kinds of disappointment because you realize, well, what's the point? Our team sucks and isn't going to win, so I might as well enjoy the t-shirt toss and ogle the cheerleaders.
The California Golden Blogs Ballot - Week 8
| Rank | Team | Delta |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Oregon Ducks | -- |
| 2 | Auburn Tigers |
 3 |
| 3 | Boise St. Broncos | -- |
| 4 | TCU Horned Frogs | -- |
| 5 | Oklahoma Sooners |
3 |
| 6 | Michigan St. Spartans |
5 |
| 7 | Alabama Crimson Tide | -- |
| 8 | LSU Tigers |
5 |
| 9 | Utah Utes |
1 |
| 10 | Wisconsin Badgers |
11 |
| 11 | Stanford Cardinal |
1 |
| 12 | Iowa Hawkeyes |
6 |
| 13 | Ohio St. Buckeyes |
 -11 |
| 14 | Florida St. Seminoles |
3 |
| 15 | Nebraska Cornhuskers |
-9 |
| 16 | South Carolina Gamecocks |
-7 |
| 17 | Arizona Wildcats |
-2 |
| 18 | Oklahoma St. Cowboys |
6 |
| 19 | Arkansas Razorbacks |
-3 |
| 20 | Missouri Tigers | -- |
| 21 | West Virginia Mountaineers |
4 |
| 22 | USC Trojans | -- |
| 23 | Miami Hurricanes | -- |
| 24 | Mississippi St. Bulldogs | -- |
| 25 | Kansas St. Wildcats | -- |
| Dropouts: Nevada Wolf Pack, Air Force Falcons, Oregon St. Beavers, Michigan Wolverines, Florida Gators | ||
SB Nation BlogPoll College Football Top 25 Rankings "
The usual justifications after the jump.
ragnarok: Is Oregon the last thing standing between a Boise State/TCU BCS title game? Is Auburn working its way into the conversation? What about Oklahoma?
Yellow Fever: I'm fairly certain that Boise State and TCU aren't going to both make the national title game unless everyone else ends up with two losses - I can see one of them getting in the national championship game to play against a one-loss team, but I'd have to believe that if either Oregon, Auburn, LSU, or Oklahoma makes it undefeated through the regular season, they're playing Boise State (or TCU, or Utah, whomever's highest) rather than seeing two non-AQ's.
Norcalnick: It's an interesting debate between the top few unbeaten teams for the top spot. I think Auburn and LSU have the most impressive collection of victories, but Oregon has gotten their wins with more style points. How do you balance that?
Berkelium97: I’ve been hatting on Auburn all season. I said their defense sucked (which it does) and that they’d get steamrolled when they started playing good teams. Well, I watched about a quarter and a half of the Auburn-Arkansas game and Cam Newton has made me a believer! If they would have played a team with a pulse outside the SEC, I’d consider putting them at #1. I still don’t think they’ll go undefeated, though. I can see them losing to ‘Bama or LSU if Les Miles has any more voodoo magic left.
ragnarok: LSU led 2-4 McNeese State by just 6 at halftime. How is this team still unbeaten??
Yellow Fever: Les Miles is a magician. I was almost tempted to buy the Les Miles app in iTunes. True story.
ragnarok: How much is Boise State hurt by Nevada's loss at Hawai'i? What about TCU/Utah when Air Force lost at San Diego State?
Yellow Fever: I don't believe Boise, TCU, or Utah are really hurt all that much by Nevada and Air Force losing - by this point we know they're quality teams, and as long as they don't continue to lose, beating them will still carry some weight in the eyes of the pollsters for our undefeated AQ's when the time comes. Of course, this won't help anyone's strength of schedule, but that's harder to quantify right now. But my gut reaction is that there isn't a significant difference between Boise State beating a Nevada team that ends up 11-1 vs. beating a Nevada team that ends up 10-2.
Norcalnick: TCU and Boise both took big hits with Oregon St.'s loss to Washington. I suppose Air Force and Nevada both losing hurts them, but neither of those teams carry enough cache to offset the quality of teams that big conference schools would boast in an undefeated season. I just can't imagine, even considering the current poll standings, an undefeated MWC or WAC team getting a championship game spot over an undefeated SEC team. Boise and TCU need to root for more chaos.
Berkelium97: Some miscellaneous musings...
- After leaving Wisconsin off my ballot last week, they come roaring back to #11.
- I preemptively dropped Arizona to #20. With Foles out for the next 3-4 weeks (at least), they’re going to lose 2 of their next 3.
- Sakerlina’s loss made the SEC East much more interesting. Still, I am disappointed. I thought they would finally win their division.
- Virginia Tech would merit consideration if they hadn’t lost to James Madison.
- Texas still isn’t getting ranked after beating Nebraska, not after being embarrassed by UCLA.
- P.S. Thank you Florida, Nevada, Air Force, and Oregon State for losing and making my job much, much more difficult this week.